Sri Krishna
Jansmashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, the Avatar of
the Dwapara Age. Many are the saints of this land who have
dedicated their life to the adoration and veneration of Lord
Krishna. Tulsidas, Meerabai, Chaitanya Deva and Purandaradasa
poured out their devotion to Lord Krishna in the form of songs
which remain popular in Bharat even to this day. The story of
His life and His leelas (Divine sport) has enchanted the people
of Bharat for millennia, for it tells us about God's pure love
for His devotees. Krishnashtami is a festival whose celebration
is marked by fun and gaiety that recalls the joy experienced by
the gopalas (cowherds) in
the company of Krishna during His childhood days at Brindavan.

At Prasanthi
Nilayam, this experience is enhanced by the presence of the same
Lord Krishna who has come again as our beloved Bhagawan Sai
Krishna. On the morning of 27th, students of Bhagawan's
university, dressed up as gopalas
and each leading
a cow, arrived in a procession at the Sai Kulwant Hall amidst
singing of Bhajans and chanting of Vedic hymns. Sai Geeta, the
elephant, too was led, richly caparisoned, into the hall. To the
delight of all who had gathered there, Bhagawan lovingly fed Sai
Geeta with fruits. After these joyful festivities in the
morning, Bhagawan retired to His residence.

In the
afternoon, after a programme of devotional songs and stotrams (hymns) by students,
Bhagawan blessed two speakers to address the gathering. The
first speaker was Dr. M. Sainath, a lecturer in the Department
of Physics, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. Dr.
Sainath began by recalling how Bhagawan had once outlined the
three stages an aspirant passes through on his path to Self
Realization. In the first stage, the devotee says to the Lord,
'Dasoham', I am Your servant. As he progresses, the syllable
'Da' drops off, and he says 'Soham', I am That. Ultimately, he
reaches that Supreme state when even the notion of duality is
extinguished and all that remains is 'Aham', I am I. Sri Sainath
said that on the spiritual path, the role of the Master is that
of turning the focus of the disciple towards the goal. A bale of
cotton placed in the sun does not ignite by itself. It is only
when the rays of
the sun are focused on the cotton by a magnifying glass that it
can be lit. In a similar manner, the Master, by showering His
Grace, lights the lamp of Wisdom in our hearts. He gave the
example of a disciple of Sant Tukaram, who prayed to him to
reveal how he could always abide in a state of bliss and peace.
Tukaram looked deeply into the disciple's eyes and then said,
"Son, do you know that you have but a week to live?" The
disciple was all in a tizzy on hearing this and rushed home. For
the first two days, he was agitated, thinking of all the things
he was yet to accomplish in his life. But, soon he was able to
turn his mind towards the contemplation of God, and by the
seventh day he had entered a state of deep peace and surrender.
He came to Sant Tukaram who asked him to narrate what he had
undergone in the past week. The disciple told him that now he
had no thoughts of the world, instead his mind was now focused
on God. Tukaram then revealed to him that it was to teach him
the secret of equanimity that he played out this little drama.
Dr. Sainath said that we now have amidst us that very same
Krishna who had taught Arjuna the Bhagavad Gita, the song
celestial which is the panacea for all ills suffered by mankind
today, and we must make full use of this opportunity to be in
the company of the universal teacher to realize our own
divinity.

Sri
Shashank Shah, currently pursuing his M.Phil in Management at
Bhagawan's university, who spoke next, drew a number of
interesting parallels between the lives of Sri Krishna and the
Avatar of the Kali age, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He
narrated a charming incident from the epic poem Bhagavatam that
records the story of Lord Krishna's life, where Sage Garga, a
devotee of Lord Vishnu, prepared kheer,
a dish said to be dear to Lord Vishnu, and offered it to Him.
The child Krishna, sneaked in as the sage was praying and
consumed the kheer. The
sage was outraged and complained to Mother Yashoda. Yashoda
admonished Krishna not to disturb the sage in that manner. The
sage again sat down to dedicate the
kheer to Lord Vishnu and again it was Krishna who
partook of it. Sage Garga asked Krishna why He was behaving so
strangely; then Krishna then revealed to the sage that He was
none other than Lord Vishnu Himself, and granted him the
celestial Vishwarupa Darshan, the vision of the Cosmic Form of
Lord Vishnu. This incident finds a parallel in the life of
Bhagawan. A devotee who had the privilege of sleeping at the
door of Bhagawan's quarters in the Prasanthi Mandir, noticed an
ethereal light coming out of Bhagawan's room one night. He
looked in and what he saw left him dumbfounded. He saw Bhagawan
in the posture of Seshasayee, the reclining posture of Lord
Vishnu, surrounded by seven fires. He was left dazed by what he
had seen. The next morning, the day of Vaikuntha Ekadashi, held
very scared by worshippers of Lord Vishnu, Bhagawan confirmed
the truth of what he had seen by revealing to him that the seven
fires he had seen were none other than the Saptarishis, the
seven great sages.

After the talks
by Dr. Sainath and Sri Shashank Shah,
bhajans were sung and
arati was offered to Bhagawan before He retired to
His residence.